#more welcome

[ziskandra]

4 13 and 14 for well im going to say enduring friendships as a series since they're interconnected :>

(fanfic author asks) 4. What’s your favorite line of dialogue? Out of the fics I've already posted, my absolute fave line of dialogue is from Brilliant Things and is none other than:

“Forgive me, but I am unaccustomed to receiving overtures of friendship disguised as attempted acts of war.”

Partly because I feel like it's such a perfect distillation of Emmrich and Johana's dynamic. Partly because it sounds like it could be sarcastic (especially out of context), but poor Emmrich is actually being quite genuine about the misunderstanding in this instance!

Because basically, the implication is that she was reaching out, had been reaching out, but not in a way he understood. And because Johanna is Johanna, she just...kept escalating.

13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? So much music, oh my god.

I mentioned in an earlier answer that there are over 320 songs on my Volkoss playlist (which is the Enduring Friendships playlist, lbr), so I'm gonna just pick out a few to talk about here!

The very first song I heard where I was like, "yes, this is a Volkoss song" is Cigarettes & Feelings by The Haunt. I listened to it on repeat for HOURS. DAYS. And then I watched the music video. Let me tell you that there is nothing - nothing - in the song to warn you that the video is basically about a couple being third-wheeled by a Sims 2-style alien. And yet. But it fits the whole Johanna/Emmrich/Rook vibe perfectly and continues to be a massive influence on my work! Another couple of honorable mentions to key influences: 1) i did this all for you! by XANA

This song really shaped a lot of what's planned for the climax of Last Rites, the working title for the last fic in Enduring Friendships. Maybe for people whose brain work similarly to mine, they can figure out what's being cooked, keeping in mind Johanna's immortal, immoral and Emmrich's dying (certified Scary event).

I did this all So you could have your happy after A never ending chapter Call you up in the middle of the night just to enchant ya Stick and poke at sunrise Now you're part of me For the rest of my damn life Said you wanted closure It's never really over Didn't wanna scare ya when I lost all my composure Wishing you would save me Am I just going crazy? Every shooting stars rolling their eyes at me, lately When you said, "No" I said, "Oh, that's okay, I'll make you change your mind" And you said, "Stop" I said, "Don't be that way, I've loved you all this time" When you said, "Go" I said, "I never could, to you, I've been so good" When you said "Fine" I said, "See? I was right, I knew you'd change your mind"

2) Trust Me by Lola Blanc

This was the song that helped solidify Johanna's childhood experiences and springboarded me into writing Extra Ordinary in earnest. I don't want to talk too much about this one because the relevant plot point is coming up very shortly, but the actual chorus is more of a long-term characterisation influence (the rest of the song is just about how she gets there). Chorus:

So if I fall into the abyss I guess that's just where I'm gonna live I'll stitch the wounds any time the thorns cut me And I could make a terrible mistake The tunnel light may just dissipate I'll learn to see better in the dark, honey

Given that I didn't even hear this song until after writing The Necessity Hypothesis, you can probably intuit why I became rapidly obsessed with it.

14. Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

I feel the core message of the series is "radical kindness can change the world". And that doesn't mean shying away from hard conversations, but choosing to show up and have them. Because what is friendship if not the active decision to keep turning up for one another when it's needed most? And of course, a bit of metaphorical nonsense about how all of us are inescapably touched and shaped by everyone we've ever loved 🥰

[ziskandra]

Bellara; Emmrich; Johanna - Risk Analysis for the WIP ask game? :)

(wip ask game)

Risk Analysis is a working title for a direct sequel to The Necessity Hypothesis, which is the character study fic wherein Johanna tells Bellara about her attempt at lichdom.

Basically, while writing TNH I realised I was trying to write two stories at once and not really giving either of them room to breathe.

Both fics are very... philosophically dense? But while TNH is largely about grounding Johanna as a character and establishing lichdom lore, Risk Analysis is focused more upon Dalish funeral customs, Bellara's relationship with her family, and whatever the fuck is happening with Anaris.

So, yeah, it's another character study and lore building one-shot for the final installment of my Enduring Friendships series, Last Rites.

I'm still hammering out some of the details for the last fic so it's possible I might just divest from posting Risk Analysis as its own separate thing and roll the important parts into the Last Rites storyline instead.

[ziskandra]

5 and 17?

5. What's something you learnt while researching a fic? Answered here.

17. What is something you recently felt proud of in your writing? There's a few things I can name off the top of my head! 1) That I'm actually writing again. This is the big one, I reckon! And that I'm persisting with writing even without the external motivation of event deadlines to keep me going. 2) I'm putting more time into revision which I'm personally finding really fulfilling as I think it allows me to draw out the thematic and narrative threads of the story I want to tell more tightly. And also, less typos. lol. 3) I've been getting a lot of really positive feedback about my character voices lately, and while character voice is something I've always worked really hard at, the fact that so many people have been highlighting it as a feature of my writing that they're enjoying in particular means that the work I've done in the past, too, must be paying off! (Fanfic/author ask game)

[ziskandra]

13, 15, 16!!

13. Do you have an 'official' creative writing background such as a degree or previous experience publishing? ... Kind of? I was involved with my university’s Creative Writing society during my undergrad (despite being a Linguistics major), and had a few original pieces published through the annual anthology there. I started studying a MA in Writing & Literature last year (which covers both professional writing and creative writing), but I’m probably going to intermit from my course for at least the upcoming trimester due to how much my life has changed in the past 12 months.  15. Does anyone you know in real life know you write fanfiction? Most of my friends and family do! It was one of my older cousins that got me into fanfiction in the first place (over 20 years ago now?), and it’s not something I go out of my way to hide from people. I’m pretty open about my fannish involvement, often having like, cosplay pics as my FB display photo and the like. And at this point, most of the people I know IRL on a personal level are people I know through fandom in some capacity 😆  16. What do you struggle with most when writing? Probably feeling satisfied enough with a work that I consider it “worth sharing”. Are the core themes coming across? Is it saying what I want it to say? Do I even know what I want it to say? This is probably why I got so involved with exchanges and fan events for several years - having an external deadline meant that I had to bite the bullet and actually post.  (fanfic/author asks)

[ziskandra]

For the asks: 🎬 If a movie or show were based on your fic, which fic would you choose and who would you fancast?

I know I already answered this question before, but just for you I decided to do a femslash edition 💖 With the caveat that I still continue to be pretty terrible with faces and names, I have been rotating my Hawkedith fic Harbour in my mind, which I wrote the other year for the Love Across Thedas zine.

For some reason, Joey Hawke in this fic just gives off like... Zooey Deschanel vibes. I think it's the combo of Big Blue Eyes and Quirky Girl Energy. (Just buffer with a big sword.) As for Meredith... I know Jessica Lange is a popular fancast for her, and I see the vision, I do! I think personally, however, my own would be Gillian Anderson. Alternatively, for a more Australian flavour, may I suggest Marta Dusseldorp? [fanfic writer ask game]

[volkoss]

Volkoss - Morality Test for the WIP game? :)

(WIP folder ask game)

Ooh, so this is one of the fics in the series of Johanna-centric one-shots I now have planned, my brain having rotated ideas at incredible speed since posting my first Veilguard fic Brilliant Things last month!

Morality Test takes place pre-canon and essentially explores the events that lead to Johanna’s expulsion from the Mourn Watch according to my headcanons.

Basically, the idea first came about as a chance to play around with the idea of Emmrich being an unreliable narrator in terms of telling the Veilguard team the truth about what actually caused his falling out with Johanna. Not necessarily out of any genuine malice, but because he’s grown accustomed to self-deception over the years, especially while resting securely in his comfort zone with no crazy childhood friends to call him out on his bullshit.

To me there just seems there could be more to the story, especially with how Johanna’s introduction scene plays out with a Rook Ingellvar who recognises Johanna as a disgraced ex-Watcher. Johanna’s very quick to dismiss the accusations levied against her as lies, but to me that’s less surprising than Emmrich’s reaction, in which he quickly interrupts and confirms Rook’s suspicions. He could just let Johanna supervillain ramble—so why not now?

During the events of the fic, they’re still close enough they’re sharing lichdom insights with one another, even though Emmrich is getting more unsettled about the lengths Johanna is willing to take to prove her theories and also the truths about the universe they’re discovering along the way. It’s also worth noting that Emmrich is an Associate Professor at this point in time and very desperate for Reasons to get that professorship (even though he’s still being very proper and Emmrich about it all).

Anyway, in the course of their adventures, there’s an Incident which causes Emmrich to freak out so much that he crumbles under pressure during the investigation into Johanna’s crimes, making the whole situation even worse.

Basically, while I still want Johanna to be Johanna—ambitious and ruthless and uncompromising in her goals—I want to also drown Emmrich in guilt. Not only because I enjoy making my faves suffer (although that’s certainly part of it), but I think it just works really well with the overarching Veilguard theme of regret. Emmrich already canonically wonders in his diary entry about whether he might have joined Johanna in his darkest moments, but I want him to also regret betraying her—not necessarily because she didn’t need to be stopped, but because of how (in my fic series, at least) she got so much worse after being excommunicated from her core support network. And even though he does try to reach out… well, that’s another fanfic all together.

Long story short: my fanfic series “Enduring Friendships” is actually about the power of self-destructive ambition and mutually-assured redemption, and in this essay I will—

[volkoss]

oh i am So curious about Bellara; Johanna - Necessity 👀👀👀

For the WIP folder ask game: Ooh, so! Necessity was the original working title of the Bellara & Johanna follow-up to Brilliant Things; the title has recently been extended to The Necessity Hypothesis but knowing me, it will probably change again before I post it 🙈 This fic basically sprouted out of the idea that it would be nice to write a follow up to Brilliant Things (in which Johanna asks for Bellara to be brought to Emmrich's room). At that time, mostly because it would allow me to explore some Johanna headcanons that got left on the cutting room floor of Brilliant Things. In the end of note works, I asked if such a fic would be of interest of others and was quite honestly surprised by the amount of agreement! One of the people who commented was @profoundlyfaded, who shared some really useful insight into Bellara as a character that helped me refine what I actually wanted to write in this follow-up fic. Especially once I embarked upon my Bellara canon review and was struck by the parallels in her and Emmrich's personal arcs. During the initial freewriting/planning phases of this fic, I got lost in the sauce a bit and ended up outlining a whole arc of pre-canon to post-canon Johanna & Emmrich-centric fics that I'd like to complete, so there's some things in here that are also set-up for the future fics!